STANFORD - Pontiac High School's basketball team caught fire in the fourth quarter Friday night. The spark came a bit earlier.

Leading 46-40, Olympia senior center Colt Stroud was called for a charging foul with 2.7 seconds left in the third quarter, wiping out a basket and, more importantly, sending the 6-foot-4 Stroud to the bench with four fouls.

Energized by the play, Pontiac opened the fourth quarter with a 14-1 run to take a 54-47 lead. The Indians held on in the final three minutes for a 62-59 Corn Belt Conference victory, handing Olympia its first loss.

"That was the turning point," Pontiac coach Jake Krause said. "It certainly gave us some leeway, because they had to go to that zone when he came back in the game. We hit some shots and we were able to attack him inside when they had to come out and pick us up."

Pontiac's biggest shot also was its longest. Junior Matt Hunter snapped a 47-all tie with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing. It came with 4:42 left following an Indians' timeout and put Pontiac (4-3, 2-1) ahead to stay.

"We drew that play up," Krause said. "I don't draw it up that far behind the arc, but he was open and he had a good rhythm and he made it."

"I didn't expect to be that far back," Hunter said. "It felt pretty good. But I was kind of scared after I released it because I was pretty far back."

Olympia coach Gerry Thornton called it "a bomb," and added, "They hit some bombs. Sometimes, you have to give the opponent credit. They beat us."

Like Krause, Thornton said the charge on Stroud "turned the game."

"I thought we had the game somewhat in hand, but they called the charge right under the basket," Thornton said. "Stroud has to sit down, and then they came out and jumped on us right off the bat (in the fourth quarter)."

Pontiac sank six of its first nine shots in the final period, with Hunter going 3 of 3 in that stretch. Two of them were 3-pointers, and 6-3 sophomore Luke Gschwendtner scored all six of his points in the 14-1 surge.

The Indians were 7 of 11 from the field in the quarter, while Olympia (4-1, 1-1) was 3 of 11. Still, the Spartans clawed to within 60-59 with five seconds left when Brady Cremeens hit a 3-pointer.

Out of timeouts, Thornton called one anyway, taking a technical foul to stop the clock. Hunter made both free throws, and Pontiac was able to inbound the ball to seal the win.

Hunter and junior guard Joey Kennedy had 21 points each to lead the Indians, who shot 44 percent from the field (21 of 48) and made 12 of 20 free throws. Senior forward Sam Mackinson added nine points and a team-high five rebounds.

Junior forward Trevor Strubhar led Olympia with 17 points, including 13 in the first half. Cremeens added 13 and Matt Frahm 10. Stroud, a first-team all-Corn Belt pick last year, finished with eight points and seven rebounds, one less than Strubhar.

Krause said a key was turning up the heat defensively in the second half.

Hunter agreed, saying, "I think it flustered them a little bit. We forced a few turnovers and some bad shots."